City of Bayswater seeks feedback on Maylands Brickworks site

CITY of Bayswater residents and community groups will have the chance to comment on four draft reactivation concepts for the Maylands Brickworks site starting from tomorrow.

The City-owned and managed brickworks was established in 1927 and included one of only a handful of remaining Hoffman kilns in Australia.

It has been vacant since 1984.

In December, Bayswater Council voted to start community engagement in February 2018 to ensure residents where given the opportunity to comment on the future use of the site outside the holiday season.

The Heritage Directorate of the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage will seek community feedback from February 7 to March 16 on the draft concepts, which have not been endorsed by the City.

Maylands MLA Lisa Baker said it was a good time to look at some “adaptive reuse” for the building.

Inside the Maylands Brickworks.

“It is an outstanding piece of heritage for our community so I am really pleased that the State Heritage Office through the Heritage (Directorate) are about to release the consultation process (and) information for the community on this,” she said.

“I really encourage people to make sure that they put their views forward during this public time…this is too good of an opportunity to miss.

“It is a classic piece of our history and it is very sad that all you can do basically is walk your dog around the outside of it or your kids can play on the lawn.”

Bayswater Mayor Dan Bull said the site was an important part of the heritage in Maylands and the City of Bayswater.

“I really encourage as many people locally as possible to get involved, put your views forward, because this is a really exciting opportunity and I think could be a really fantastic outcome,” he said.

Stage one of the project involves the investigation of the condition and repair needs and the feasibility of finding new uses for the site.

The Brickworks precinct and adjourning trees, open space and lake are zoned as medium and high density residential R40 and are protected in the State Register of Heritage Places

There will be two public consultation sessions held on Saturday, February 17 from 9am to 11am and Monday, February 26, from 5pm to 7pm.